Watch the Northern Lights from your bed in a floating snowflake

Property developer Dutch Docklands has a very unique specialty
-- it only designs structures that float on water. Its latest
project is a hotel that will allow guests to float in a giant
snowflake underneath the Northern Lights.

The
Krystall Floating Hotel will be made from glass and will have
86 rooms that allow guests to observe the Aurora Borealis from
their beds. Work is due to start on it in the middle of 2015 and a
5-star hotel operator is due to open it before Christmas 2016.
Hotel guests will only be able to reach the structure by boat, and
although it is not known exactly where it will be situated, it will
be near to Tromso, placing it within reach of an international
airport.

The snowflake design will be built in pieces in dry docks,
before being assembled on location. Supposedly the base of the
structure is so large that guests will be unable to feel any
movement on board -- so no need to fear seasickness. The shape of
the structure will also provide an extra layer of stability, and it
will be reinforced with dampers, springs and cables. While Ditch
Docklands isn't able to reveal the overall cost of the project, it
says it will be about 15 percent more expensive than it would be to
build it on land.

Dutch Docklands is behind several other floating hotels,
including several in the Maldives, which it has developed in
conjunction with the Government of the Maldives.

"Dutch Docklands headquarters is based in Holland which has
learned to live with the water instead of fighting it. Floating
houses are common in the Netherlands but we take that technology
abroad and scale it up in size," Koen Olthuis, founder of Dutch
Docklands' preferred architecture company Waterstudio, tells
Wired.co.uk.

Dutch Docklands/Waterstudio

There will be plenty of 5-star facilities built into the hotel,
but its main attraction is obviously that it offers the potential
to see the Northern Lights. "The Northern Lights is the main
feature for the hotel. Without the light we would not have chosen
this location on water. It is far enough away from disturbing city
lights," says Olthuis.

The project will aim to be self-supporting and self-sustainable
and will also aim for "scarless development". This is helped by the
fact the boat is floating and therefore has minimal impact on the
location. The idea is that if it is ever removed, it won't cause
any lasting mark on its location -- just like the Dutch Docklands
in the Maldives. Its commitment to ecological preservation makes it
ideal for such sensitive regions that also benefit from
tourism.